"Life is lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road and we stand on the mountain looking back through the valley that we can appreciate the terrain God has allowed us to scale.” Jill Savage

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Personal Challenges

By Personal Development for the Book Smart"7 Reflections on Coping with Obstacles-

Recent challenges in my personal life have humbled me considerably.

Today, I want to share a few lessons from my reflections.

1) Don’t take things for granted.

The only constant is change. Thoughts change, feelings change, ideas change, people change. It’s too easy to settle into a routine and take things and/or people for granted. I realized that was what I had been doing… and when circumstances changed, I found it hard to adjust.

Remember… don’t take things for granted and always be prepared for changes.

2) A friend in need is a friend indeed.

As cliche as that sounds, I just realized how true and meaningful this statement is. It’s when you meet with obstacles that you find out who your true friends really are.

Treasure them… those true friends of yours… they’re hard to come by.

3) The brick walls are there to remind us how badly we want it.

Randy Pausch taught me this… the brick walls are there to remind us how badly we want it.

It’s time for me to face my brick walls with courage, creativity and conviction.

4) You can only help people who want to be helped.

Many a times, we try to help people who might not be ready yet to receive our assistance. If we persist, it’ll only be a futile and unwelcome effort.

Know when it’s time to let go.

5) Distraction might not be such a bad thing after all.

I haven’t been watching TV since… well let’s just say it’s been a long while.

Because I was stuck on a problem which I did not have much control over, I did the next most logical thing… I turned on the TV.

Hey what do you know? It didn’t turn out too bad… especially now that the Olympics is on.

Sure, some may see it as escapism but as counter-intuitive as it may seem, taking your mind off a problem can help you generate better solutions than continuously focusing on the problem itself. Go figure…

6) Learn when to quit…

I remember Seth God in mentioning in his book “The Dip” that quitting can sometimes be the best thing you can do.

After my own experiences with quitting, I agree.

When people say “Don’t give up…” they don’t mean it all the time.

It’s necessary and even vital to give up sometimes… for example… to quit a dead-end job… to cut your losses on a losing investment. Learn when to quit… your success depends on it.

7) Give your loved ones and yourself a treat… No special occasion needed!

Appreciate the people around you. Give them a treat… a hug… tell them how much they mean to you…

Do it today… there’s no better time…" Again by Personal Development for the Book Smart

I just thought this was good - hope you enjoy. I'm back from LA and tomorrow will share pictures and tell you about it!

Neil Diamond - I love your songs and Happy Birthday - Wikipedia

Neil Diamond was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, to a Jewish family descended from Russian and Polish immigrants. His father was a dry-goods merchant. Diamond grew up in several homes in Brooklyn, attending Erasmus Hall and Abraham Lincoln High Schools. At Erasmus Hall, he took part in SING! and sang in the school choir with Barbra Streisand.

At Lincoln, the school from which he received his high school diploma, he was a member of the fencing team. He later attended NYU on a fencing scholarship, specializing in épée, and throughout his life, he maintained his swordsmanship skills to such a degree that he continued to warm up with fencing exercises before his concerts.

In a live interview with TV talk show host Larry King, Diamond explained his decision to study medicine by pointing out: "I actually wanted to be a laboratory biologist. I wanted to study. And I really wanted to find a cure for cancer. My grandmother had died of cancer. And I was always very good at the sciences. And I thought I would go and try and discover the cure for cancer." However, during his senior year in NYU, a music publishing company made him an offer he could not refuse: an offer to write songs for $50 a week. This started him on the road to stardom.

9 comments:

Once again you mirror my thoughts and find new ways to inspire me. I love this post, it has really spoken to me. So much of it I have 'learned' but some of it I'm still struggling with. Oh yes and I love Neil Diamond! Happy Sunday!Always, Linda

It seems one of the hardest lessons to learn is if we are struggling this probably isn't what we are suppose to be doing or wanting right now. I know one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was I can't control life or other people. Thanks for the reminder.

Great post, Sandie. Some of these lessons (most) are hard fought ones, right? Usually involving some pain in recognition. IT's hard to let go of the idea that we really have control over anything but our own reactions to this world. Particularly over those we care about. It sounds like this has been a time of transition for you. I always console myself that these periods of emotional turmoil are the times in which I grow the most and when I'm plain happy, (it's good) but I'm static in my peronal growth. And it ultimately lands me further along my path. So. At least there's that, right? Be well.

Who would have thought that $50 a week would be a lot of money back then that Neil Diamond would have gave up his medical career for that! It paid off for him though!

I think that I have learned at an early age that I can't control what other people do. I can't and I have accepted it to some degree. It just hurts seeing people go down the wrong path and you can't do anything for them but pray and let God deal with it. Especially when they don't know God.

Sandie, your post keep getting better and better! Your topics are always something that we're interested in, or have thought about ourselves.Who knew all that about Neil Diamond?? Jim always liked his music.Will be looking forward to your trip posts.Hope all is well in GA.

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Chatty Crone

I'm a Christian middle aged woman, wife, mother of two, and grandmother of two (wonderful boys).
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